A world without limitations or boundaries; that's what the people are entitled to when they are plugged in to a robot that lives their lives for them. But, are the machines safe? That question is answered in Bruce Willis' new sci-fi action film, Surrogates.
Right off the bat we see that almost everyone uses a surrogate that they designed to live their life from the safety of their home. The function of a surrogate? Well, they can do anything that a human being can except for the fact that their strength and agility are perfect, allowing superhuman physical abilities such as the ability to jump off high places and endure large amounts of damage. If a surrogate is destroyed, the operator can simply get up and call in for another with no damage done to him/her. For this reason, there have been no homicides in years until a boy, who happens to be related to the son of the inventor of Surrogates(James Cromwell), dies when his Surrogate gets fried by a new kind of weapon. FBI agents Tom Greer(Bruce Willis) and Agent Peters(Radha Mitchell) are brought in to investigate this new danger. As more and more humans die due to this dangerous weapon, Greer must find out who is behind this plot before the lives of all surrogate users are threatened.
Surrogates is a movie that doesn't give much to talk about as far as CGI, script, action, etc. goes. The story is in most ways original even though it is a lot like both The Matrix and I Robot(in fact the man who played the inventor of the machines in I Robot played the same role in this film.) The script and acting in the movie is nothing special, the pacing is good, but overall most of the elements in Surrogates are mediocre. The good thing is the action and suspense, which seems to move the film along, kept me interested throughout the film. Bruce Willis has once again entertained moviegoers by letting them watch as he beats the crap-ola out of all the bad guys.
The main thing that set Surrogates apart from other sci-fi action films is that it does a great job of teaching us a message. Humans very often tend to hide behind our "masks" and try our best to conceal our past or who we really are so that others can't judge us. In Surrogates, the same thing happens but it's actually even worse. People choose to hide in their machine and become addicted to it to the point where they never want to leave their home so that the world can never see their real face and real personality. Throughout the movie we learn that we need to be strong and brave enough to let the world except us the way we are and not be afraid to be judged. This is the main reason why I liked Surrogates because it has a big moral that is easy to see and makes the film better all around.
Surrogates is a passable sci-fi action film that presents us with fun action and a great theme. The only thing is as I said before, the concept of Surrogates has been seen before in other films so the originality just isn't there. With that said, If I went to a movie rental store, this one would probably not be the one I decide to check out. 1.5 stars out of 4.
Surrogates is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality, and a drug-related scene. The film has a running time of 89 minutes.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Weekly Update
There isn't that much exciting news this week as far as movies go but there are a couple of small things that you might like to hear.
-First of all...a brand new New Moon trailer premiered last week on the MTV VMA awards(the one where Kayne interrupted Taylor's thank-you speech) and oh boy was it cool. This film already looks so much better than Twilight. You can find it at the bottom of the page!
-Many fans who saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine were disappointed that Ryan Reynolds(who played Wade Wilson/Deadpoole) didn't have that much screen time and that the character swayed away from the comics. Producer of the films Lauren Donner said that the new spin off film titled, X-Men Origins: Deadpool, will be going back to the comics and will be a complete reboot. The only thing that won't change is that Ryan Reynold will be returning despite his current involvement on Green Lantern.
That's all I have this time around that is remotely interesting. Hopefully as the winter movie season grows closer there will be more interesting news. Also, come back this weekend to read my review of Surrogates.
-First of all...a brand new New Moon trailer premiered last week on the MTV VMA awards(the one where Kayne interrupted Taylor's thank-you speech) and oh boy was it cool. This film already looks so much better than Twilight. You can find it at the bottom of the page!
-Many fans who saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine were disappointed that Ryan Reynolds(who played Wade Wilson/Deadpoole) didn't have that much screen time and that the character swayed away from the comics. Producer of the films Lauren Donner said that the new spin off film titled, X-Men Origins: Deadpool, will be going back to the comics and will be a complete reboot. The only thing that won't change is that Ryan Reynold will be returning despite his current involvement on Green Lantern.
That's all I have this time around that is remotely interesting. Hopefully as the winter movie season grows closer there will be more interesting news. Also, come back this weekend to read my review of Surrogates.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
9
On the 9th day of the ninth month of 2009, I saw a film that had nine characters, whose protagonist's name was nine, a movie in which there were nine heroes, and the film was called "9". What is the deal with all these 9's? I guess it's just marketing because there was nothing about it in the film. Anyways, director Shane Acker has given us a whole new realm of animation in his post-apocalyptic animated film, 9.
At the start of the movie, we see a scientist who is sowing together a stitchpunk(named by the director of the film) whom he named 9(voiced by Elijah Wood). Then quickly, before we see anything else, the scene flashes to when 9 wakes up and all human life has been dimolished. 9 then walks out into the broken world and soon finds another like him whose name is 2. "2" explains that the world has been taken over by machines and that the stitchpunks are the only things left to destroy them. Soon 9 finds the other 7 of his kind and embarks on his journey to finish the mission that the scientist created him to do.
Let me say that 9 isn't the film you want to take your young children to see. This movie is both dark and violent despite the fact that it's animated. The machines themselves are very menacing and frightening and they do their best to cut up, capture, and kill the stitchpunks and many times they succeed. While the film has no blood because they're all machines, there is still tons of violence and several deaths in which the stitchpunks get they're souls sucked out by machines.
What stunk for the film is that it's a little under an hour and a half so there isn't much time to explain the plot or get to know the characters. We get to see a little about each stitchpunk's personality but the movie doesn't have much time for that so it immediately gets going into the action. But, while the machines taking over the world isn't original, the fact that sown up rag dolls are trying to destroy them is and for that the makers of the film get brownie points.
The main accomplishment with "9" is that the film is visually amazing. The texture and detail that is seen in this film does a great job of throwing the viewer into the world of "9". No surprise there because almost everything with Tim Burton's name has great and unique animation. A few other things that added to my enjoyment of this film were the script and the music. I usually don't expect things like that to be in an animated film so I was pleasantly surprised.
"9" is an impressive film to watch but in the end...the plot just doesn't make sense. The stitchpunks were created in order to "protect" the future and keep civilization going but the things themselves have no reason to fight. So what if they do or don't destroy the machines, either way there will still be no humans when all is said and done. Why must the stitchpunks fight for a lost cause? That was the question that never got answered. However, "9" shown us a new kind of animated feature and had just enough spark to keep me interested till the end. 2 stars out of 4. "9" has a running time of 1 hour and 19 minutes and is rated PG-13 for violence and scary images.
At the start of the movie, we see a scientist who is sowing together a stitchpunk(named by the director of the film) whom he named 9(voiced by Elijah Wood). Then quickly, before we see anything else, the scene flashes to when 9 wakes up and all human life has been dimolished. 9 then walks out into the broken world and soon finds another like him whose name is 2. "2" explains that the world has been taken over by machines and that the stitchpunks are the only things left to destroy them. Soon 9 finds the other 7 of his kind and embarks on his journey to finish the mission that the scientist created him to do.
Let me say that 9 isn't the film you want to take your young children to see. This movie is both dark and violent despite the fact that it's animated. The machines themselves are very menacing and frightening and they do their best to cut up, capture, and kill the stitchpunks and many times they succeed. While the film has no blood because they're all machines, there is still tons of violence and several deaths in which the stitchpunks get they're souls sucked out by machines.
What stunk for the film is that it's a little under an hour and a half so there isn't much time to explain the plot or get to know the characters. We get to see a little about each stitchpunk's personality but the movie doesn't have much time for that so it immediately gets going into the action. But, while the machines taking over the world isn't original, the fact that sown up rag dolls are trying to destroy them is and for that the makers of the film get brownie points.
The main accomplishment with "9" is that the film is visually amazing. The texture and detail that is seen in this film does a great job of throwing the viewer into the world of "9". No surprise there because almost everything with Tim Burton's name has great and unique animation. A few other things that added to my enjoyment of this film were the script and the music. I usually don't expect things like that to be in an animated film so I was pleasantly surprised.
"9" is an impressive film to watch but in the end...the plot just doesn't make sense. The stitchpunks were created in order to "protect" the future and keep civilization going but the things themselves have no reason to fight. So what if they do or don't destroy the machines, either way there will still be no humans when all is said and done. Why must the stitchpunks fight for a lost cause? That was the question that never got answered. However, "9" shown us a new kind of animated feature and had just enough spark to keep me interested till the end. 2 stars out of 4. "9" has a running time of 1 hour and 19 minutes and is rated PG-13 for violence and scary images.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Big Deal
UPDATE: I just had a thought...I think one of the reasons Disney did this is because of the new Harry Potter world at Islands of Adventure. Maybe Disney's afraid of not getting visitors and needs to think of some new rides.
It was confirmed yesterday that Disney has bought Marvel for the huge sum of FOUR BILLION DOLLARS( Hey Marvels worth it.) As many of you know, Marvel is the company that as made comic books, video games, TV shows, and huge blockbuster movies based on our favorite super heroes like Spider-Man and The X-Men. This means that Disney can immediately add Marvel hero's to their theme parks across the world. The only park this excludes is Walt Disney World in Orlando because of the existing deal between Marvel and Universal(Islands of Adventure.) I read that the Island of Adventure theme park has a perpetual deal with Marvel for the Amazing Spider-Man ride and the Incredible Hulk coaster so we will never see those attractions leave that park(Thank God.) Right now it seems that the biggest changes will be in advertising, merchandise, and television. The Disney cable channels(preferably Disney XD) will now probably develop more TV shows based on Marvel characters. Besides that, we will probably see more Disney adds in upcoming comic books. Right now it seems that the deal is not effecting the upcoming films being made by Marvel in any way.
It was confirmed yesterday that Disney has bought Marvel for the huge sum of FOUR BILLION DOLLARS( Hey Marvels worth it.) As many of you know, Marvel is the company that as made comic books, video games, TV shows, and huge blockbuster movies based on our favorite super heroes like Spider-Man and The X-Men. This means that Disney can immediately add Marvel hero's to their theme parks across the world. The only park this excludes is Walt Disney World in Orlando because of the existing deal between Marvel and Universal(Islands of Adventure.) I read that the Island of Adventure theme park has a perpetual deal with Marvel for the Amazing Spider-Man ride and the Incredible Hulk coaster so we will never see those attractions leave that park(Thank God.) Right now it seems that the biggest changes will be in advertising, merchandise, and television. The Disney cable channels(preferably Disney XD) will now probably develop more TV shows based on Marvel characters. Besides that, we will probably see more Disney adds in upcoming comic books. Right now it seems that the deal is not effecting the upcoming films being made by Marvel in any way.
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